Sergeant (Retired) Ernest Alvia "Smokey" Smith, VC .....God bless 'em...RIP..

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

- Canada loses it's last surviving Victoria Cross Winner

VANCOUVER, Aug. 3 /CNW Telbec/ - Sergeant (Retired) Ernest Alvia "Smokey"
Smith, VC, has died today at the age of 91 in Vancouver. In consultation with
the Smith family and in cooperation with other agencies, a military funeral is
being planned to honour Sergeant Smith.
As arrangements become definite, they will be posted to the Legion web
site, http://www.pacificlegion.org/smokysmith.html , and announced to the
media. A Valour Coordination Media Centre will be established at The Sutton
Place Hotel at 845 Burrand St, Vancouver beginning tomorrow from 7 a.m. to
8 p.m., Pacific Standard Time, and will remain open until the morning after
the funeral.
Should the public have any enquiries, then can contact Veterans Affairs
at 1-800-443-0394.
The Smith family has asked for complete privacy during their time of
mourning and the media and public are asked to respect this request. Media
should place all inquiries to the Valour Media Centre, via email
( smith.valour@forces.gc.ca ), or by telephone (604-225-2520, ext 2496).



For further information: Media: Valour Media Centre, (604) 225-2520,
ext 2496, via email ( smith.valour@forces.gc.ca )

Ah no So sad to know he's gone. I've met Norma (sorry, yet again! for mixing up the names Norma (and another name and Gavin. After roughly 25 years, ya'd think I'd get it right by now) many times, through her partner. I never had the great pleasure of meeting Smokey though. I'll always regret that. My heart goes out to his family and loved ones.

Rest in Peace Smokey ... the rest of us will continue to celebrate your life.

Carman

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

What a hell of a man.

Last Cdn. Victoria Cross winner dies

Canadian Press

Updated: Wed. Aug. 3 2005 1:04 PM ET

Hordes of German troops couldn't take him, but time finally did.

Ernest Alva (Smoky) Smith, Canada's last winner of the Victoria Cross, has died at his home in Vancouver. He was 91.

Born in New Westminster, B.C., on May 3, 1914, Smith was a joyful man with an impish smile who savoured a good cigar, a well-aged scotch and the attentions of ladies the world over.

Far from a natural-born diplomat, however, it was his fierce fighting ability that vaulted Smith, nicknamed Smoky in school because of his running ability, into the company of royalty, presidents and prime ministers.

Last fall, Italians and Canadians gathered beneath the walls of an 800-year-old castle in Cesena, Italy, to honour Smith for unleashing a few minutes of fury that saved untold lives and changed his own forever.

In a warm ceremony filled with tales, tears and tributes, officials unveiled a plaque commemorating that night of Oct. 21-22, 1944.

His actions that rainy night, when he singlehandedly fought off German tanks and dozens of troops on a road beside the Savio River, were hailed as an inspiration to all his countrymen for time immemorial.

To Smith, it was simple: kill or be killed. He was scared but he couldn't let his fear gain the best of him or he would die.

"If you're not afraid, there's something wrong with you,'' he said. "You've got to do it. Don't worry about it.

"Do it.''

Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson, who developed a rapport with Smith over four Remembrance Days and many other ceremonies, said his feats that night resonated far beyond the moment into the hearts of generations of Canadians.

"Someone once said that courage is rightly esteemed as the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all the others,'' she said.

"It is the underlying, rock-like base on which we can live truly human lives. (It is) something he did not only in one battle, not only in the campaign of Italy but for all of us.

"We are more human because one of our members is capable of such a thing.''

Although his comrades called him "a soldier's soldier,'' Smith's relationship with the army was stormy.

He built a reputation as an independent-minded man suspicious of authorities. They made him a corporal nine times and busted him back to private nine times. That was his rank when he was awarded his VC, the only Canadian private to win the medal in the Second World War

Irreverant, sharp-witted and something of a trouble-maker, Smoky Smith and his deeds that night are the stuff of legend.

Already wounded once in Sicily, he had returned to cross the Savio River with his Seaforth Highlanders, the spearhead of an attack aimed at establishing a bridgehead in the push to liberate Cesena and ultimately break through the Germans' Gothic Line.

But the rains were so heavy the river rose two metres in five hours. The banks were too soft for tanks or anti-tank guns to cross in support of the rifle companies.

As the right forward company consolidated its objective, the Germans counter-attacked with three Panther tanks, two self-propelled guns and about 30 infantry.

"The situation appeared hopeless,'' said Smith's citation announcing he had received the Commonwealth's highest military honour almost 61 years ago.

Then 30, Smith led his three-man anti-tank group across an open field under heavy fire. Leaving an anti-tank weapon with one of his men, he led Pte. Jimmy Tennant across the road for another.

"We got hit with grenades,'' Smith recalled. "We got grenades thrown all over us. I don't know how I didn't get hit. He (Tennant) got hit in the shoulder and arm.

"So I said: `Get in that ditch and stay there. Don't move.' So we stayed right there and I never got a mark.''

Smith had a tommy gun -- a close-range submachine-gun -- a Bren gun machine-gun and a PIAT, or Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank gun.

He also had hundreds of rounds of machine-gun ammunition strung around his neck and hanging off his body.

"We had tried to get a German bazooka, which we figured was twice the weapon we had,'' he said. "But they wouldn't let us have it. You know why?

"It wasn't British.''

The pair were no sooner into a ditch when a Panther came toward them, firing all the way. Smith waited until the 45-tonne vehicle was less than 10 metres away before he jumped out from his cover, laid down and fired back.

He scored a direct hit, disabling the tank.

"I hit it in the side or the track,'' said Smith. "A tank is pretty hard to hit. Sometimes the round would just bounce off it.

"I could see it face-on.''

Immediately, 10 German Panzergrenadier troops jumped off and charged him.

"I killed four of them with my tommy gun. That scared them off.

"They were up close -- about 10 feet or so.''

Another tank opened fire. More enemy began closing on Smith's position.

Smith grabbed more magazines and "steadfastly held his position,'' said the citation.

"It was just a bunch of rocks,'' Smith said. "You're not fighting on the prairies, you know. You try and keep out of sight.

"You find yourself a hunk of ground you can hang on to. That's the way you win wars, I think.''

He fired another round at an approaching tank. It turned away. As each German neared him, Smith fired at them.

The rest eventually turned and withdrew "in disorder,'' the citation said.

"Even Germans don't like to be shot,'' Smith said.

From a distance, a tank continued firing. Smith helped a badly bleeding Tennant up and the two of them made their way back across the road to a church, where Smith left his buddy in the care of some medics.

Dead Germans lay strewn all over the road.

"I don't take prisoners. Period,'' Smith said 60 years later. "I'm not paid to take prisoners. I'm paid to kill them.

"That's all there is to it.''

Smith heard he'd won the Victoria Cross about seven weeks after the fight. His reputation as a party animal preceded him. Military police were sent to take him to the ceremony with King George VI in London.

"They picked me up in Naples or somewhere and they put me in jail,'' Smith recalled with his trademark grin.

"`Don't let him loose in this town. Don't let him loose. He's a dangerous fellow.'

"I liked to party. I'd have a big goddamn party and they'd say: `Where is he now? Oh, he's drunk downtown.'''

After the war, Smith worked a couple of years before he rejoined the army to go and fight in the Korean War.

"After I got in the army, they wouldn't let me go. They said: `You got a VC, you're not allowed to fight any more.'

"I said: `Why didn't you tell me before I rejoined?'''

He was promoted sergeant, then retired with full pension at 50. He became a newspaper photographer before starting his own travel business with wife, Esther.

"I worked for Smoky Smith,'' he said. "He's the only boss I know who's good to me.''

He retired at 82. In recent years, he was pretty much confined to a wheelchair. He had a bad cough. His beloved cigars and scotch took their toll.

Jimmy Tennant survived the war. Smith helped him find a job with the Workers Compensation Board when they returned to Canada. Tennant had lost a chunk of bone in his arm so it was shorter than the other by about five centimetres.

Tennant lived a long and happy life, not far from Smith in Vancouver. The two remained friends until Tennant died of lung cancer years ago.

After that night in 1944, Smith's life was never the same again.

Strange women kissed him. Countless men wanted their pictures taken with him. Children smothered him with affection. He met kings and queens and prime ministers and presidents.<

As much as he loved the attention, he never forgot the joys the simple things in life could provide.

Master Cpl. Bud Dickson, Smith's aide de camp on overseas trips for 10 years, remembered getting dressed six years ago in the Mediterranean town of Catania when a knock came on his hotel room door.

Dickson opened the door and there stood Smith.

"Come here, Bud, I've got something to show you,'' Smith said.

Dickson finished dressing and went to Smith's room. The door was ajar and Dickson walked in, calling Smith's name.

"Out here,'' came the reply. And there sat Smith on the balcony overlooking the Mediterranean, two of his beloved scotches on the table in front of him.

Dickson sat, still a bit confused. The sun was just cresting the horizon to the east.

"What's going on, Smoky?'' he asked.

"Nothin','' said the then-85-year-old veteran. "I just wanted you to come over and watch the sunrise.''

So Dickson, then a 33-year-old army signaller, and Smoky Smith, who had probably seen more war than all present-day Canadian soldiers put together, sat back, sipped their scotches and watched a spectacular sunrise.

They barely spoke a word.

About 10 minutes passed. By now, the sun was big blazing orange ball. To this day, Dickson says he will never forget the words Smith spoke.

"Try to do this as often as you can,'' said Smith, who used to kill enemy troops with a half-metre-long, Indian-style warclub bristling with nails.

"You never know when your last sunrise is going to be.''

The war, Smith said last year, didn't darken his soul and weigh on his heart the way it did some veterans.

"Once it's over, it's over,'' he said. "It was a good life.''

A military funeral is being planned.




© Copyright 2002-2006 Bell Globemedia Inc.

[John McGillivray]

That is indeed sad news.

From the CBC

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/natio...ith050803.html

RIP Smokey you certainly earned it.

[Garry Shipton (RIP)]

As I mentioned in a past thread,my dad was ordered to bring Smokey back friom the lines after the battle,and all he wanted was a cup of tea as he was riding up front with dad in the CMP,which dad obliged,by stopping at the first NAAFI that he came across.But there's one thing that's been puzzling me for years.Dad mentioned that Smokey didn't look like a hero,but an ordinary infantryman.And,as he said,and I quote to the nearest of my memory,"He was all dirty and was wearing a pair of coveralls".The coveralls part has me confused.Does anyonr have any opinion on this?

Rest in Peace Smokey

[cmperry4]

I had the honour of meeting Smokey at the Dominion Veterans parade here in Wpg a few years back. He was most gracious and having a great time - I was able to steer our newspaper's reporter and photographer over to interview him, as they had no clue who he was or that he was there.

Here's a snap I took of Smokey being interviewed beside Rob Love's carrier with a few other Prairie Command types standing alongside.

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Will any of us here be in attendance in the funeral, and if so, will you be filming the parade? I'd like a copy if so... I don''t trust the media to do it without the Talking Heads drowning out the sound.

See also:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...721167,00.html

Unfortunately they have not put the actual newspaper photo on the web, here it is from today's "Times".

R.

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

I used to talk to Smokey at the Ottawa 11 November Rememberance Day Parades at the War Memorial..He was always smiling and happy to talk to everyone...
He will lie in state here next week..Here is the press release...

Tribute to Sgt. (Ret) Ernest Alvia "Smokey" Smith, V.C., C.M., O.B.C., C.D.
OTTAWA, Aug. 5 /CNW Telbec/ - Sgt. Ernest Alvia "Smokey" Smith, V.C,
C.M., O.B.C.,C.D., remains will lie on Parliament Hill Tuesday,
August 9, 2005. The following media opportunities are available:
Monday, August 8, at approximately 4 p.m. - Arrival of Sgt. Smith's
remains at the Canada Reception Centre, Ottawa International Airport
(Hangar 11). Media wishing to attend must advise the NDHQ Media Liaison Office
at (613) 996-2353/2354, not later than 1 p.m. on August 8.
Tuesday, August 9, 2005, at 8:55 a.m. - Arrival of Sgt. Smith's remains
at the Foyer of the House of Commons. Media must be in position in front of
the main doors not later than 8:40 a.m. and be accredited with the Canadian
Parliamentary Press Gallery at (613) 992-6517.
General media queries can be directed to The Valour Media Centre at
(604) 642-2913/2914, or Fax (604) 642-2744.
More information about Sgt. Smith can be found at:
www.pacificlegion.org/smokeysmith.html

Note to the Editors: The Smith family has asked for complete privacy
during their time of mourning. We ask that the media respect their privacy and
refrain from taking video or still images of the family.



For further information: Information: (613) 996-2353/54, After hours:
(613) 792-2973, http://www.forces.gc.ca

Originally posted by FV623
Unfortunately they have not put the actual newspaper photo on the web, here it is from today's "Times".

What an amazing expression in his eyes/face ..... I can TOTALLY understand how ladies were drawn to him. Eyes that can see right through you ... I think he was extraordinarily perceptive, and true to, people and life ... those eyes and that expression were still "him" right to the end of the line here ... I can only imagine many peoples discomfort in his presence ... and how so many more would feel so at home in his presence. Dpends on where they were coming from

[Garry Shipton (RIP)]

a couple of Panther tanks and they were trying to take an Italian bridge held by Seaforths,I wonder how those eyes looked in a defiant manner!!

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

August 10, 2005

War hero backed funeral details

By TIFFANY CRAWFORD

VANCOUVER (CP) - Shortly before Canadian war hero Sgt. Ernest Alvia (Smokey) Smith died he told one of his friends organizing his funeral this weekend, "they got it right."

Smith's memorial service has been three years in the making and on Saturday, it's expected thousands of Canadians will witness the largest military procession the country has seen since the 1950s.

Smith, who was the last surviving winner of the Victoria Cross, the Commonwealth's highest award for bravery, died last week at the age of 91.

"He had a twinkle in his eye and laughed and said to me, 'They got it right, Bev,' " said Bev Croft, an executive officer with Royal Canadian Legion, in remembering her conversation with Smith.

Croft urged people to come and pay their respects to a valiant man who, as a Second World War hero, played a major role in ensuring Canadians their freedom.

"Come out and be a part of history," said Croft. "Come out and show your pride for what this great man accomplished."

The military procession for the last surviving Victoria Cross recipient will begin at the Seaforth Amoury at about 10 a.m. PDT and will be broadcast live on CBC Newsworld.

Burrard Street, including the Burrard Street Bridge, in the city's downtown core will be closed as Smith's family, a band, pallbearers and military personnel from across Canada march to St. Andrews Church.

An formation of four jets will roar above the ceremony as they perform the Missing Man formation, traditionally used to mark the loss of a comrade.

"Smokey often remarked that the real heroes were the ones in the cemeteries who never had a chance to come home," Rev. Jim Short wrote in Smith's obituary, which will be read at the service.

The procession will likely attract thousands of people, a military historian said Wednesday.

"The last one of this magnitude was the one for Billy Bishop who had earned his Cross in the First World War," said Bill Rawling.

Smith earned the VC by single-handedly repelling a German counterattack on Italy's Savio River in 1944.

Since its inception in 1856, 94 Canadians have received the award given for bravery or some daring act of valour or self-sacrifice.

"It's part of our national memory," Rawling said of the procession.

"It's how we remember people who have done such great things in the past and to encourage us to do similarly in the future."

Croft said her longtime friend knew his funeral would be grand and he hoped it would help remind Canadians not to forget the war.

Organizers said the street will be decorated with bright colours and a firing squad will volley shots.

Smith's remains were flown to Ottawa on Monday, accompanied by five members of his family and 22 reservists from his regiment, the Seaforth Highlanders.

His coffin, draped in a gold-fringed Canadian flag, was flown back to Vancouver on Wednesday after it had lay in state on Parliament Hill. Among the dignitaries who paid their respects in Ottawa were Prime Minister Paul Martin and Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson, who led family, friends, veterans, soldiers and citizens past the war hero.

[Garry Shipton (RIP)]

Just to let all MLU'ers know,CBC News Network will be broadcasting his funeral at 1:00 PM EDT on Saturday.

Again,this has been an MLU Publiic Service Announcement,even for guys with broken toes!!
Here's to you Smokey

Originally posted by Garry Shipton
Again,this has been an MLU Publiic Service Announcement,even for guys with broken toes!!

The Broken-Black-and-Blue-Toed-Wonder is eager to watch that ... me too. Thanks Garry!

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball
What a hell of a man.

Here's a picture of him, together with another hell of a guy, Kangaroo-vet Art Bell.
Picture taken in 1995 at Bergen op Zoom, Holland.